Latest from Tory leadership hustings

3.10pm: The last Conservative leadership hustings before tomorrow's first round vote are now underway in committee room 14 of the House of Commons. Our man stalking the corridor, Matthew Tempest, reports that Liam Fox went in first without talking to the journalists waiting outside. Most Tory MPs were similarly reticent, except Malcolm Rifkind, who only withdrew his own candidacy last week. With a mischievious grin he joked, "I'm going in to heckle". Of all the candidates Liam Fox is furthest away from Mr Rifkind politically. David Cameron's campaign has won three more declared supporters today, including the former deputy leader, Peter Lilley, whose argument in favour of cannabis legalisation came in the middle of the last Tory leadership contest. Two new intake MPs, Maria Miller and Graham Stuart, also announced they were backing Mr Cameron bringing his declared support to 37 MPs, against 66 for Mr Davis, 24 for Mr Clarke and 22 for Dr Fox. That leaves just under 50 Tory MPs yet to declare their allegiance. More news as it happens ...

3.40pm: Emerging from room 14 after appearing before the MPs, Doctor Fox was asked if the subject of drugs had arisen. "Nobody raised it with me," he replied. "But what the 1922 committee do with the others is entirely up to them." Asked to rate his chances he said, "I know what the numbers are in my head," as he predicted: "There will be a fair amount of movement between the ballots."

In what appeared to be another carefully calibrated dig at the frontrunner, Dr Fox told reporters: "You don't want special advisers and a policy unit at Central Office running the party, giving MPs no ownership on policy." That appeared to be a reference to Mr Cameron's background as a special adviser to Norman Lamont and a policy adviser to Michael Howard. Dr Fox added: "If you want to change the party you have to say what you want to change it to."

Ken Clarke gave an impromptu press conference, having been turned away from the Gladstone room when he arrived five minutes early for his session. He joked to assembled journalists: "They're all still analysing Liam's performance." He rejected accusations that he was "too old" for the job, saying that he had been making "jokes about me being too old and David Cameron being too young all through the campaign".

4pm: As he made his exit from the committee room at the end of his appearance, Mr Clarke said: "Another speech, another day."

Asked what had come up in his cross-examination by MPs, he said: "Europe came up two or three times - the Conservative party is improving!" But he refused to answer further questions, telling reporters it was "a closed meeting".

A spokesman for Mr Clarke later said he had told the party: "My politics is the politics the Liberals most fear. I'm the leader they least want."

As David Cameron, the frontrunner, entered the committee room, he was asked about drugs, but brushed questions aside, saying: "I think we've dealt with it."

4.25pm: Emerging from his grilling at 4.15pm, frontrunner David Cameron declared it to have been "a very friendly meeting" and said he had recieved a "very nice response".

Asked if there had been any "erring and straying" by MPs on to the subject of drugs, he said the meeting had stuck "very much on the issues".

He predicted "there may have been a bit of switching from one candidate to another," but he said the whole party was agreed they needed to attract "young voters, women voters, AB1 and aspirational voters".

"We all want the same thing," he added.

5.10pm: David Davis emerged just before 5pm in seeming good spirits. Asked how it went, he replied: "Very well. Did you not hear them laugh?"

He added: "It was quite good fun and they paid attention. I got my points across and I didn't forget any words. That's the key, isn't it?" he said, seemingly a reference to his poorly received Blackpool speech.

"People were very happy, people seemed to enjoy it," he added.

Asked about the key question of party discipline, he said that sacked Tory MP Howard Flight would "probably" still have been an MP if he had been leader.

Emerging from the packed meeting, the backbench MP and Ken Clarke supporter John Bercow said: "There were no gaffes, no clangers. There were no drug questions or drug policy questions.

"I'm not going to lie - David Cameron did very well. It is boring, but we can elect a leader Labour and the Liberal Democrats fear the most, or we can elect another rightwing leader and get slaughtered again."